acerbone@adirondackdailyenterprise.com
New York’s top court ruled on Tuesday that the state violated its own constitution by cutting trees for snowmobile trails in the Adirondacks. This case also defined what the word “timber” means in the “forever wild” clause of the state constitution, expanding it to include trees under 3 inches in diameter.
While the ruling says too many trees were cut for these trails, it leaves vague how much will be too much cutting for future trail work.
The state Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the environmental group Protect the Adirondacks in its eight-year-long lawsuit against the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The court found that the DEC’s plan to create 11 wider Class II trails around the park, some of which would be on state-owned Forest Preserve land, violates the “forever wild” clause — Article 14 — of the state constitution.